We asked 2007 Forum attendees to share their highlights with us. Here are some highlights - straight from attendees:

Question: Why did you attend the Forum?

There are far too many reasons for me to enumerate here. I'll give you a few, though. I went to meet John Pourdehnad; to see the many friends I've made from previous Forums, and to enjoy some wonderful meals with them; to share some of what I've learned over the years and to learn more."

Many great people, ideas and models to better understand life.

To continue my growth in systems thinking. Touch base with friends

New thinking. New networks.

Had heard about it since its inception, and knew Bill Bellows, wanted the opportunity to attend to learn and finally had a chance to do so.

Continue learning about areas/subjects not covered elsewhere. Great price point. Great friends, locals as well as international. Also wanted to learn how to better "flow passion in2 action and unleash the power" of group I'm a member of.

To continue my learning about systems thinking and how to work more effectively with my systems.

Because I enjoy the interplay of thoughts and thinking. Also, I was part of the Forum Planning Team.

To get ideas, to explore new ways, to improve my thinking.

Realize more creative means of innovation and problem-solving

To learn more about systems thinking and the In2:InThinking Network.

Because it is fun!!!

Question: What was important to you?

Everything was important to me; even the meals. However, what I really cherish is the opportunity to spend time with a bunch of fairly like-minded people in the pursuit of truly useful knowledge. That's my platitude and I'm sticking to it!

New connections, friendships, intellectual stimulation.

The deeper simpler understanding of the ideas.

The people who attended were very special. I wish to be connected with them.

Just being at Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne and meeting all the different participants was fascinating.

I really wanted to make sure that the audience felt the passion that was generated in the room.

See question 1, also continuing to broaden my perspectives by seeing more of what I wasn't. I want to learn more, enough to bring back to my organization and teach others.

The diversity of the speakers and participants.

Learn how to take the theory into practice with volunteer groups.

Listening to various speakers.

Systemic and relational approaches.

Discovering something that I could take back and apply in my career.

Meeting the people!

Question: What would you have liked to have seen at the Forum?

There were 3 things I would like to learn/discuss more on:
1) If Systems Thinking is so great, then why isn't readily adopted by the system? What are the roadblocks? Why do they persist?
What do organizations/people do to successfully address them?
2) More information on the effectiveness and pit falls of division of labor (1+1 = ?) Data and studies would be good on the ramp down and ramp up time of transition v. divisional labor.
3) More enabling IT solutions and tools that support systems thinking e.g. the wiki was great.

More great people. More younger people.

It was great as is.

More interaction with the audience.

I loved what I saw. I think the only thing I would have liked to have seen more of is the small sidebar discussions, seems like they were more in depth last year, but could be because it was my first year.

More. I always have trouble deciding between the competing sessions.

Couldn't think of anything else, other than more time for more presenters or the triple-tracks doubled up to be able to hear more than one topic.

Maybe more Q&A type sessions.

More personal applications.

Some examples of the real world benefit of using the concepts.

Workshops focused on solving real world problems with new tools and expert help.

Question: Did you experience any "a ha" moments or special connections during the Forum? If so, please enter comments about your experiences below.

As much as I have been a proponent of using Wikis, Ann Majchrzak's keynote presentation on Saturday morning opened my eyes to the possibilities of "The Wiki Way" even more.

I solved a conundrum I didn't even clearly knew I had! I realized that assumptions are upstream of values in people who have not consciously looked, while the opposite is true for those who have.

Several important new connections occurred. I enjoyed the music and the learning that can occur during practice.

Yes, during Bill's Enterprise Thinking seminar -- customer service is overrated and the focus on variation management not always variation reduction

I really enjoyed the "humor" in some of the presenters presentations!

"There are 4 personality types, variation exists!

Psychology behind change, never seen that anywhere, great insight, including a similarity to the grieving process-a different kind of change.

Impact of straightening out the spaghetti into neatly organized rows....also made organization less functional."

During Bob Pratt's presentation his comments about individual responsibility and how that relates to the interconnectedness of our systems.

My "a ha" moment came during the Saturday post-lunch keynote by Paul Morgan. It was that we make the world the way we want.

"I had many ""nuggets"" of ""a ha"" moments.

Besides the ones I previously mentioned the Practitioner Panel provided a good culminating moment for many others.